;i8 



THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



Taconics" (2624 feet) lying in the 

 eastern ridge, is the highest peak and 

 one of the highest elevations in Massa- 

 chusetts, while Bear Mountain (2355 

 feet) is the highest point of land in 

 the state of Connecticut. The main 

 summit plain is situated to the north- 

 ward of the center of the mass and has 

 an average altitude of about 1 700 feet. 

 Correspondingwith the elliptical out- 

 line of the mountain, this plain is 

 compressed at the north and south, 

 so that its length is about three miles 

 and its breadth two miles. Encircling 

 it is a line of peaks ranging from 1 900 

 to 2600 feet in height. This encir- 

 cling wall of peaks is buttressed by 

 other peaks both to the northward 

 and southward, the southern side |jf 

 being strengthened by a parallel belt H 

 across the mountain, composed of 

 Mts. Bear, Gridley, Frissell and 

 Monument. Southward of this belt 

 of hills the elevated plateau recurs, 

 but without the rampart of peaks 

 which characterize it in the northern 

 and more central area. 



The Salisbury-Sheffield valley on 

 the east and the Copake Hillsdale 

 valley on the west of the mass, con- 

 stitute a floor having an average alti- 

 tude of 700 feet, from which Mt. 

 Washington rises abruptly, the mean 

 slope-angle"being]aboutJJJ20°. m The 

 southern Qboundary^ofjthe^rnountain 

 isjfthejnearly]east]and west valley 





